[littlemanpoet]

"You ask a Hobbit not to keep a tale of his own small doings of the day to himself?" laughed Falco. "Might as well tell a dog to dig or a horse to gallop or a cow to chew cud or-"

"I think Garstan takes your meaning," said Thornden, grinning.

"Ah yes, of course he does." Falco turned to Garmund. "Shall we go see how Thornden and Léof are doing in the stables?"

"Yes!" Garmund cried, and was off at a run toward the stables.

"Mind you keep him safe, Master Boffin," called Garstan to the Hobbit's receding back.

"Upon my honor, Master Garstan," he cried over his shoulder. "You may be sure of it!"

It was not long before Thornden's horse and Falco's pony were ready for riding. Thornden took Garmund up to sit before him, holding the reins, even, and soon they were trotting merrily through the eastern edges of Edoras, in the general direction of Gondor. Falco suggested to Garmund that the ruins lay near that great kingdom, and Garmund talked excitedly of how they were going all the way to Gondor to see the greatest ruins of them all, this very day. Falco did not correct him, but described the ruins in the most exaggerrated of terms. Thornden, who had seen the place, grinned and kept his laughter at the jest to himself.